Corten Capital and Ampersand Capital Partners (“Ampersand”) have announced the completion of their acquisition of Beacon Intelligence from the Hanson Wade Group, backed by Graphite Capital.
Shutterstock - SNP_SS
Beacon is the third investment from Corten Capital II, which closed in March 2024 with €680 million in capital commitments. Ampersand is investing alongside Corten as a minority co-investor in the transaction. As the new majority owner, Corten Capital is partnering with Beacon’s management, led by its CEO Rob Poolman and Chair Sati S. Sian, to support the next phase of Beacon’s growth as an independent company. David Anderson, General Partner at Ampersand, will join the Board of Directors alongside Corten Capital and Sati S. Sian, who will continue as Chair.
Beacon was founded in 2015 within the Hanson Wade Group, an Events and Conferences operator focused on the life sciences industry, to address a critical gap in structured, granular data on early-stage drug development. The Beacon platform is now used daily by over 300 customers globally, including 24 of the 30 largest global pharmaceutical companies, to track competitive pipelines, identify licensing and acquisition opportunities and inform R&D investment decisions. The company has built a unique dataset within 16 distinct modules covering complex modalities in drug development, including ADCs, Bispecifics, and RNA, alongside a growing suite of disease-based modules including Oncology and Neuroscience, with further coverage extensions planned.
Rob Poolman said: "This marks an exciting new chapter for Beacon Intelligence as we begin operating as an independent intelligence business. Our team of scientists, engineers and commercial colleagues are excited to continue our work to deepen the platform, broaden our data coverage, and strengthen our position as the first place the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies turn to when making drug development decisions. We are excited to have Corten Capital’s and Ampersand’s backing and look forward to our partnership to deliver better outcomes for our customers and the broader drug development community."
Sati S. Sian said: "The completion of this transaction is a testament to the platform Beacon has built and the strength of the team behind it. As we transition to an independent company, the Board and team are fully in place to support Beacon's next phase of growth. We look forward to working closely in the years ahead with Corten Capital, whose experience in scaling B2B data and software businesses is closely aligned with Beacon’s ambitions, and to welcoming Ampersand as co-investors.”
Alexandre Michelson, partner at Corten Capital, said: “Having worked closely with the Beacon team throughout this process, we have only grown more impressed by Beacon - the scientist-led curation and depth of the data, the proprietary ontologies, and the strong relationship with the largest life sciences institutions in the world all speak to Beacon’s pedigree as the unique intelligence platform for critical life sciences R&D decisions. We are excited to begin working alongside Rob, Sati, and the broader team as Beacon embarks on its next phase as an independent platform. Together with our co-investor Ampersand, we look forward to supporting the company as it deepens its value to the global life sciences community.”
David Anderson, general partner at Ampersand Capital Partners, said: “We are very pleased to be investing alongside Corten Capital in Beacon Intelligence. Beacon has built an exceptional platform delivering critical intelligence to the world’s leading life sciences organisations. The quality of the data, the depth of scientific expertise, and the loyalty of its customer base make Beacon a truly distinctive business. We look forward to working with Rob, Sati, and the Corten team to support Beacon’s continued growth and development.”